


Brother in Arms

by slytherclawpadawan



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Episode: s02e13 The Protector of Concord Dawn, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Zeb is a good big brother, platonic relationships are my crack, the holy trinity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 19:25:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14817425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slytherclawpadawan/pseuds/slytherclawpadawan
Summary: "Looking after the younger crewmembers was something Zeb typically left up to Hera and Kanan, Force knows they were better at it than he was. But with one unconscious and the other systems away, someone had to step up."In which Zeb is everyone's big brother while waiting for Hera to wake up.





	Brother in Arms

Medbays were not exactly on Zeb’s list of favorite places to be. Everything always seemed so sterile, so delicate, so _fragile_ , not to mention the typical state of medbay residents. Given his large, raucous nature, Zeb wasn’t really in his element in a place where he felt like any misstep could break something, with disastrous consequences. A reek in a pottery shop wouldn’t have been the most inaccurate comparison.

And yet here he was, in the deepest, most unoccupied corner of the _Liberator’s_ medbay he could find, making himself as small and out of the way as possible. Ezra had offered to let Zeb sit in with Hera first, the medical droid had been very insistent on one person being in there at a time, but the kid also had the eyes of a starving Lothkit looking for its mother. Hera’s injury had clearly affected him much deeper than he let on. On Lasan, despite all his efforts to appear unmoving and intimidating, he’d garnered a reputation for completely melting whenever kits gave him that _look_. After all these years, that one thing had never really changed. So there he sat, waiting for Ezra’s shift to be over for him to be replaced by Zeb or Sabine.

 _Where is Sabine anyway?_ Zeb thought. After Kanan insisted on going back to Concord Dawn alone, she’d exchanged a few brief, heated words with Ezra and stormed off to Force-knows-where, presumably to blow off steam. Sabine had already been hard-hit by the attack, and not being able to go claim retribution had to have made things worse. He hadn’t been a fan of Kanan’s call when he made it, but thinking back, taking Sabine along wouldn’t have been the best idea. Even if Kanan was going back to wipe them out, everyone knew how bloodthirsty Sabine could get, and Zeb could completely understand not wanting to have a Mandalorian teenager hungry for revenge in tow. Zeb figured she’d have cooled off enough by now to come back to the medbay and wait for her shift. Sabine’s rages were intense but typically short-lived. So where was she?

The sound of the door to Hera’s room opening pulled Zeb out of his thoughts. Out of the recovery room trudged Ezra, looking far more tired than he had when he went in.

“Hey kid,” Zeb said. Ezra jerked up as if just noticing Zeb’s presence. “’Sup with you?”

Ezra shrugged, his movements almost trance-like. “’M fine,” he said groggily, waving off the Lasat. Zeb rolled his eyes. Force, getting this kid to admit when he wasn’t fine was like pulling teeth.

“Hold on,” Zeb realized, “you had the last night shift, didn’t you?” Usually whoever had the night shift was allowed to nap or at least turn in early the next day unless everyone was needed, which of course had been thrown out the airlock when Hera had come back unconscious with her ship in pieces. By now, the kid had to be tired. “Go back to the _Ghost_ and catch a few,” Zeb ordered, “Sabine and I can take it from here. Where is she, anyway?”

Ezra crossed his arms defensively, clearly knowing the answer but remaining silent.

“Ezra, where’s Sabine?” Zeb growled, making Ezra wince.

“Probably back on Concord Dawn by now,” Ezra said hesitantly.

“What? Hold on, but Kanan said—but that would mean…. did she…?” Zeb sputtered.

Ezra nodded, knowing what Zeb was about to ask.

“She stowed away when Kanan wasn’t looking, didn’t she?” Ezra’s silence was all the answer he needed. He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “Karabast,” he muttered. He swore these kids were going to be the death of him. “Well,” he sighed, “There ain’t nothing we can do about it now, let’s just pray they both come back in better shape than Hera. You still need sleep, though,” he said, eyeing Ezra firmly.

“I said I’m fine,” Ezra snapped, shrugging Zeb off. “I can wait right here just like you did.” He glared up at Zeb as if the Lasat was actually going to be intimidated into silence by that. Under better circumstances, Zeb would’ve laughed at that, but it instead only succeeded in making him mad.

“Look,” Zeb snarled, crouching down so he was eye level with Ezra, “If you don’t go back to the _Ghost_ , I will throw you over my shoulder and carry you there myself. And I’ll make sure everyone sees.” The threat of embarrassing him in front of his superiors seemed to work, because Ezra crossed his arms even tighter around himself and stalked out of the medbay, muttering things Zeb pretended not to hear.

Zeb watched the teen leave the medbay with a ghost of a smirk on his face. His style was definitely different than what Ezra was used to. Looking after the younger crewmembers was something Zeb typically left up to Hera and Kanan, Force knows they were better at it than he was. But with one unconscious and the other systems away, someone had to step up. And seeing how one kid had already sneaked off when no one was looking, that left Ezra to receive Zeb’s efforts in full force.

As he entered to the room where Hera was, however, any trace of mirth was wiped clean from his face. Sure, he’d already seen her when she came out of surgery, and the medical droid had assured them all that she’d be fine, but that did little to ease the punch in the gut he felt when he saw her. Hera was still deeply unconscious, her steady breathing probably so much better than it had been. Most of what little skin that showed was bruised and bandaged, but Zeb guessed that the blanket they had her bundled up in hid much more serious injuries. The machines she was hooked up to beeped steadily as a reminder of just how much there was to be thankful for here. But that didn’t make it much easier to see Hera, usually a pillar of confidence and strength for everyone, so weak and helpless. Zeb shakily made his way to the bedside, where he slowly lowered himself into the chair that Ezra had left.

Unsure of exactly what to do from there, Zeb fidgeted with his thumbs, finally deciding to busy himself with listening to the monitors. He knew the droids were calibrated to know exactly what was being monitored, but it gave Zeb something to do that at least felt meaningful. Wasn’t exactly a lot he or anyone else could do at this juncture, other than letting Hera’s body rest and recover, which wasn’t very easy. Zeb was a man of action. He preferred problems that could be solved with his bo-rifle, which would definitely serve no purpose here. Not being able to physically do anything that would directly help fix things honestly made him feel quite useless. Sure, everyone tended to refer to Kanan and Hera as the parents of the group, which was admittedly not too far off the mark, but Zeb still felt somewhat responsible. As the biggest and strongest of the group, if anyone needed their rears pulled out of the fire, usually Zeb was the first one to dive in. Need someone hold closing bay doors open? Or bash some bucketheads? Or something gunned down with a cannon? Zeb was your guy. So when anyone got hurt, Zeb felt like that was on him. But even he had his limits. He wasn’t much of a flier and definitely not one with the Force, or however that went, which made him more or less useless when Hera was up in her fighter or Kanan and Ezra were dealing with red-bladed psychos. He hated it. Also, just to add to the burden, even though they’d never have the conversation, he knew that as the oldest member, if anything ever happened to Kanan and Hera, responsibility for the kids would fall on him. He prayed that day would never come.

Zeb sat this way for what could have been either twenty minutes or two hours, listening to the monitors, trying his best to keep the thoughts of worst case scenarios at bay. Suddenly, Zeb caught slight movement in the corner of his eye. Whipping his head toward the source, he saw Hera shifting and squirming, presumably trying to wake up. Even though his rational side knew she was no longer in any peril, watching her start to grasp consciousness lifted a weight off of Zeb’s chest he didn’t even realize was there.

Hera groaned and furrowed her brow, her body likely protesting being pulled form sleep. Then, finally, her eyelids fluttered and then hesitantly opened.

“Hey,” Zeb said gently. “How do you feel?”

Hera groaned again and croaked, “Like a rancor’s doormat.” Before Zeb could stop her, she made an attempt at sitting up, but didn’t get very far until she winced in pain.

“Hey, hey, take it easy, Hera,” Zeb said, gently pushing her back down. Typical Hera, trying to get up after nearly dying. “You remember what happened?”

Hera furrowed her brow in concentration. “Concord Dawn?” she asked tentatively. Zeb nodded. She closed her eyes and exhaled. “I got shot down, didn’t I?” As if what happened had been more embarrassing than anything.

“Yeah.”

“Did my A-wing make it?” Of course her first thought would be whether or not the ship was okay.

“Not sure, we were kinda preoccupied to be too concerned with the ship,” said Zeb, trying and failing to be annoyed. Truth be told, if Hera was already back in pilot mode, that was a sure sign she’d be alright.

“Hmm,” Hera hummed in concern. “I want to look at it myself before any decision is made.”

“Then we’ll need to find a place to put it for a while,” Zeb grunted, “’Cause you’re not going anywhere for a while. You need to rest and heal.” He hesitated before saying, “You had us pretty worried there for a bit.”

“Figured as much,” Hera said with a light smirk. “I knew it was serious when I saw you actually worried.”

 “Why me?”

Hera smirked even deeper. “Kanan gets worried when I have a headache.”

Zeb snorted, “Hard to disagree with that. He’s a lost cause.” _And so are you_ , Zeb thought but didn’t say.

Hera chuckled lightly, but her grin quickly turned to a grimace. “Hurts to laugh,” she muttered, shrugging off Zeb’s concerned glance. “Speaking of Kanan, where is he?”

“He and Sabine went back to Concord Dawn,” said Zeb, not yet willing to let Hera know of the stowaway aspect of the mission. “Ezra’s crashed back on the _Ghost_ , or at least he’d better be.”

Hera quietly snorted but then quickly turned serious. “They’d better have gone back to complete the mission. We need that hyperspace lane, and we don’t have time to go avenging.”

Zeb nervously rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, I can’t promise that it’ll be the peaceful, diplomatic meeting that you originally hoped for, but believe it or not, Kanan actually seemed pretty clear-headed before he left. He’ll keep Sabine and himself in check.”

Hera frowned but visibly relaxed. “Hopefully.”

Their conversation was cut short by the chirp of Zeb’s comm. “Must be Ezra,” he muttered, pulling the comm from his belt. “Aren’t you supposed to be asleep?” he growled into the device.

“What?” I just slept for over an hour!” Ezra’s indignant yelp made Hera smile.

Zeb sighed in resignation. “Fine, good enough. What is it?”

“Kanan and Sabine are on their way back, and they managed to get us the route! Something about a prisoner?”

Zeb shot up and exchanged a bewildered look with Hera. “What? Wait, I don’t wanna know,” Zeb muttered partially to himself. “By the way, Hera’s awake, if you wanna come down and see her.”

“I’ll be right there!” Ezra said before hastily ending the transmission. Hopefully he wouldn’t break anything sprinting to the medbay.

Hera smiled and shook her head. “This should be interesting.”

Zeb snorted, “That’s an understatement. Leave it to them to pull something like that.”

“Yes, because as we all know, you’re never reckless,” Hera said with a coy smirk. Zeb chuckled sheepishly, again rubbing the back of his head.

“Well, I’d better make room for Ezra. The med droid would have you think that having more than one visitor at a time would make the med bay explode,” Zeb said as he stood up from his chair, his muscles protesting for being made to be still for so long.

Hera snorted lightly, careful not to laugh too hard again. “Too bad, I was hoping to talk to both Kanan and Sabine about taking prisoners,” she said with a smirk.

“Well, lemme see if I can figure something out. After all med droids can’t be everywhere at once,” he said, winking. He then placed a gentle hand on Hera’s shoulder. “Get some rest,” he said sincerely. Hera smiled and nodded.

Zeb turned and made to leave the room. As he reached the door, he was stopped by Hera’s voice.

“Zeb?”

“Yes?” he turned his head and asked, thinking she might need something.

“Thanks for taking care of Ezra. He needs someone looking out for him.”

Zeb smiled. “Anytime, Hera.” He then left to go distract a certain medical droid.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Not exactly an original topic for fanfic, but a different angle that hasn't really been explored so far! Hope y'all like it!  
> Note: A reek is the bull-like thing that tries to kill Anakin on Geonosis in Attack of the Clones


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